


beloved, may we meet in another life

by EllaYuki



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Trailer, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loki POV, Loki stops running, M/M, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 12:26:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12935247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllaYuki/pseuds/EllaYuki
Summary: they can’t outrun thanos’s ship, so, after landing on a barren planet and taking a massive, devastating hit, loki tries to bargain with the mad titan for his brother’s life.





	beloved, may we meet in another life

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: Based on the mid-credits scene from Ragnarok, the trailer for Infinity War and some of my own ideas about how things might go down.
> 
> a/n 2: The lack of capital letters is INTENTIONAL. All fics written by me in 2017 are like that, so if that puts you off, I'm sorry and you are more than welcome to back out now. 
> 
> (AKA: Please STOP MENTIONING IT, it will NOT change. Thank you.)

they try to run.

loki doesn’t know if it’s brave or stupid or both, because no one can outrun the mad titan, not for long, but they are in space, and there is a ship full of people desperately trying to survive, and they don’t really have much in the way of weapons. so, without telling them much, he gets them to run.

heimdall finds them the closest habitable planet, maybe like that some of them might survive instead of perishing in the vacuum of space. even the almighty asgardians aren’t entirely immune to the void.

‘and besides’, thor says, with the bluster of someone who has never faced that purple monstrosity, not seen the terror he can wreak. ‘we stand a better chance at fighting back on solid ground.’

loki doesn’t know what to say to that. because it’s true. but at the same time, he also knows that they will die.

he thinks about using the tesseract, try to transport them to a different part of the universe, but for all his power, he is not strong enough to wield it by himself, not to get so many people through. none of them are. all of them together are still not enough.

he tries to think, as the ship breaks atmosphere and lands, thinks up plans to get them out of this, and quickly discards them as useless.

he steps out onto the wasteland of the planet, and takes a lungful of air.  _this is where we die,_  he thinks.  _we’ve escaped hela only to end up here, against an even worse foe._

he looks at thor, where his brother is standing a few paces away with the valkyrie, both of them looking up, and then he, too, looks at the massive ship that’s just outside the atmosphere.

‘loki,’ thor calls to him, and it takes every shred of loki’s control not to jump. he looks at thor. ‘you seem to know a lot about who is on that ship. you had us run as fast as we could. so what can you tell us about him?’

loki looks back up, wondering how he can answer that question. he sighs; swallows. ‘only that he is terrifying and impossibly powerful. and that we can not run from him. not for long.’ he swallows again, and looks back at his brother. 'i would rather take on hela and surtur both that have to face him again.’

thor frowns at that. of course he noticed loki’s slip up. 'again?’

'yes,’ loki answers. 'he is the one who gave me the chitauri army a few years back.’

at that, the valkyrie lets out a disbelieving sound. 'the chitauri? i heard of them,  _nasty_  fuckers.’ then, with a raised eyebrow in loki’s direction, 'what,  _you_  led the  _chitauri_  into some sort of battle?’

'he tried to invade earth. that’s not the point right now.’ he turns his attention back to loki and, really, he looks too much like odin now. it’s annoying. 'brother. tell me. why would he be after us now? what interest has he in us?’

and oh, isn’t  _that_  the question. loki is sure of the answer; or, well, a couple of them, actually. and oh, he’s been a fool. such a fool. he’s led them all to slaughter.

he laughs, rueful, almost hysterical. and he doesn’t stop until thor grabs him by the shoulders and gives him a rough shake first, and then a second, more gentle one. he wants to laugh at that, too. oh, if only thor knew.

his laughter dies down and the dread he’s been trying to fend off is finally starting to creep in. he looks at his brother, his brave, beautiful, infuriating brother, and wishes things were different. 'i’ve doomed us all,’ he finally says, quiet enough so that only thor can hear him. 'i should have never come back, i should have taken the commodore and left, i should have…’ he shakes his head. 'i’ve doomed us all.’

thor wraps a big, warm hand around the back of his neck, and tries to make sense of him. 'what do you mean? brother, why are you saying this? how have you doomed us?’

'because he can probably sense my presence,’ loki tells him, meeting his worried gaze. ‘and i was warned that failure in retrieving the tesseract that time would bring repercussions what would make me long for pain.’

no sooner does he say that, when a sudden, shrieking sound cuts the air around them, and before he knows what he’s doing, he’s wrapping his arms around thor’s head and using his body to protect him from the blast that sends them flying.

the world goes dark for what feels both a second and an eternity.

when he wakes up, sluggish, in pain, he’s surrounded by rubble and bodies, and the sky looks on fire. he sits up, looking around, taking in the horror, and there’s a horrible knot in his throat, a hollow ache in his chest.  _they’re all dead_.

there’s a pained gasp coming from somewhere behind him, followed by a deep, rumbling laugh that sends dread-filled chills down his spine. he turns around and all the air leaves his lungs.

a few feet away, holding his brother’s head in a crushing grip, is thanos himself, golden gauntlet gleaming in the light of the flames around them.

loki gets to his feet as fast as he can, struggling to breathe around the beating heart in his throat. he catches a glimpse to one side, of dirtied, bloodied white-and-silver, and a distant part of him wants to mourn for the loss of the last of the great and proud valkyries, but all his focus is on the figures in front of him.

 _‘thanos!’_ he calls out, willing his voice not to tremble. electric blue eyes turn to him, and for a split second, loki wants desperately to become invisible, to run away and hide. ‘let him go,’ he says instead, holding his ground, ‘and i’ll give you what you want.’

there’s a horrifying sound coming from thor, a garbled version of loki’s name, and the fear grips loki’s heart all that much tighter.

the mad titan laughs, booming, echoing. ‘and here i thought i’d have to chase you some more.’

‘i’ll give you the tesseract,’ loki says again, desperate, ‘just. let him go. you’ve already killed everyone else. just let him go.’

‘and why shouldn’t i just kill you both and then take it from your corpse?’ thanos asks, tone almost pleasant, like he’s talking about the weather, and it makes loki feel like there are maggots crawling up his skin.

‘because i’ve made sure to hide it so well that you’ll never get your hands on it should i die. you unhand my brother now, and let us leave, and i will give it to you.’

‘who does this little weakling think he is, to try and bargain with the great thanos?’ comes a voice from the side, and it is only then that loki realizes that there are more people around than just himself and thor and thanos. he’d been so focused on the two in front of him, that he never even noticed the black order surrounding them and it sets him even further on edge.

‘this  _weakling_ ,’ he hisses with as much venom as he can muster, ‘is the only one who knows where the space stone is and who can get to it. and i will not hand it over until i know my brother is safe.’

thanos snorts. ‘show it to me first, asgardian, so that i know you’re not lying through your teeth in your desperation, and  _then_ i will release him.’

loki raises his chin, defiant for all of a second, and then he raises his right hand in front of him. the tesseract glows with power, pulsing in his palm. he holds it out and thanos’ smirk becomes as sharp as a blade’s edge.

suddenly, thor is at loki’s feet, coughing, wheezing, and loki uses his free hand to pull him up. ‘hurry,’ he says, ‘get up, brother, and run. that green monstrosity should be somewhere around, he’s not that easy to kill. take him and run.’

thor looks up at him, dazed, still trying to get his bearings, and loki can see the moment thor realizes what loki has said. and more importantly, what he implied.

‘i’m not leaving here without you,’ he says, every bit the god and the protective brother.

loki wants to hit him and kiss him and throttle him. ‘don’t be a fool,’ he hisses and it’s almost a plea. ‘just for once in your damn life, listen to me and  _go_.’

‘we had a deal, asgardian,’ comes thanos’ impatient voice, and loki has to grit his teeth. ‘you have your brother. now hand it over.’

loki ignores him, and looks at his brother, tries to get his fill of him.

‘loki…’ thor pleads quietly. ‘don’t.’ and then, even softer, ‘ _don’t_.’

loki sighs, a small, sad smile twisting his lips. ‘oh dear brother,’ he says, and allows himself one moment of weakness. he presses a kiss to his brother’s brow, and one just under his ruined eye, and one to his lips, feather light, before he uses every shred of his concentration on sending him away with the tesseract’s power. he doesn’t know where to, just thinks  _away from here_. 'goodbye,’ he whispers, praying they will someday meet in valhalla, if loki even is allowed in its golden halls.

the last glimpse he has of his brother, thor’s eye is widened in disbelief and anguish, and he only manages a broken,  _‘loki,’_  before he vanishes in a flash of bright light. a wave of relief washes over loki.

for a long second, he just breathes, eyes closed.

then, he squares his shoulders, and looks at thanos, all pride and defiance and fire. 

if he dies, he will go down fighting, knowing he at least managed to save one person dear to his heart.


End file.
